Don Didn’t Starve: Don’t Starve Survival Guide for Beginners

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I decided to write this today as I see a lot of questions about helpful guides. Maybe we can get a Fan Written Guide Section to help weed out the typical beginners questions? This is a survival guide that gets me through my first winter and onward to a long survival. I use a streamline type of method to keep efficient with my use of time and resources. Hopefully I wrote this in a timeline that will make sense for beginners.

I'll note that I play both PS4 and PC, PS4 being my preference and is written and geared more towards PS4 users only for the simple fact of NOT being able to MOD EVERYTHING. Still applies for all.

PREPARE - This is 6 pages of writing.....

Veterans:

Yours may be different and I’d like to hear anything you have done differently or offer any opinions of what I could do differently. Also comment on some of my theories of how or where certain things spawn/generate. Give feedback please!

Where you begin is where you get most of what you need to start, twigs, grass, flint, trees, berries, flowers, carrots, and seeds. I will start by gathering everything around me in a streamline fashion. Going from closest item to closest item without straying too far off to grab what I need. This is to shorten wasted time, reduce resistance to a fluid flow of action. By this I’m playing connect the dots so to speak. Collect as much as you can in your surrounding area until you can create an axe, 2 torches and grab some grub for the road.

After a few minutes of this I then begin to run along the perimeter of the map with the water/edge of map on my right side (doesn’t matter which side). Keep your main focus on the map and less on the water so you don’t miss too much on your way. My strategy is to go around the whole perimeter of the map FIRST. This is my goal for the next 8 to 10 days. Especially at night you can continue on your quest without getting lost and without direction. Still gathering as you go.

By the start of day 2 I will have ALL the items above created and nearly if not 40 twigs, 40 grass, amongst the other items depending on where the path takes me.

TIP:

Your second torch will carry over for your next night as your first torch. Always first use the torch with lower life % left. Create your 2nd torch BEFORE NIGHT. I do it ASAP so I can keep filling up my grass & twigs as I go.

Tip:

Collecting seeds early is easy and quick on your path. Why not pick them up for quick food? They don’t offer much but we don’t need to be wasteful. Pick and eat as you go.

· NEVER STOP IN SWAMP BIOMES. NEVER. IDC. DON’T. KEEP MOVING. I’ve never run into a scenario where I’ve been killed/attacked at night if I hug the perimeter and keep it moving.

· Walk Around Spiders Nests (inward to land away from maps edge) Avoid slowing down and getting attacked

· Every once in a while check your map! You can see on your map what you can’t in the dark.

This could be Touchstones or maybe something else to take note of importance.

Note*

Carrots don’t respawn. You most likely won’t be exploring much of the perimeter much anymore after you finish or at least for a while. Don’t be afraid to take the food you need now as you need it more now than ever.

Pros & Cons of Perimeter Method:

PROS:

· Easier and safer for Night Travel Exploration

· Getting more accomplished early. WINTER IS COMING!

· Touchstones – Not sure how these generate but I ALWAYS FIND 2 on the edge. (Sometimes a 3rd by road)

· Chess Biome – Highly important to find and I always find it by perimeter

· Discovering every Biome – Resource is located

· Find majority of the “Things” (just in case I don’t like the map. I will collect them or mark their spots)

· Good chance of finding Chester (or I find him by road, usually where bees nests are)

CONS:

· Takes about 8-10+ days (not really a con, still worth it)

· Your inventory can fill up before that time (there’s solutions)

· What I’m saying is I don’t find any cons

Days 2-8/10+: Perimeter Exploration

Rough estimate depending how frugal you are with your time. The following info covers these days as a whole and not individually. I say 8/10+ days for a few reasons. There will be times you should stay in an area for a little while and not just running the edge of the map.

Build a pick axe as soon as you see a bolder, especially if it contains gold. Pick away as much as you can (while staying on your linear journey of the perimeter) as you go till the pick breaks and frees up a spot. Keep the flint, rock, and gold. Collect the Nitre if you wish but this is a disposable item early on. Collect it and drop it as a bundled item until you need room if necessary.

Hunger:

Always be mindful of this (duh). Collect the items easy for the taking. Kill something only if you have to. I don’t find it necessary to cook my food items early on (berries and carrots of course). I get by and you can too. Only build a quick campfire IF NECESSARY to cook meats. Never stay longer than to cook. KEEP MOVING!

Sanity:

Not much of an issue. No worries here yet. Or are there? ARE THERE? WAIT, ARE THERE ISSUES!?

Health:

Your Health shouldn’t be much of an issue here either as long as you play it smart.

Fighting:

If you got a backpack and or Chester better drop it and suite up before duking it out with whoever you want dead and you shouldn’t have the thirst for blood until you have armor and a spear. Only thing I will kill are spiders (carefully 1 at a time) for silk mostly (highly important item). I won’t destroy too many nests as I want these to develop later on in the game.

Tip:

Keep the Eyebone in the backpack to drop them simultaneously. You don’t want Chester getting in the way during a battle.

Your First Science Machine:

Taking time at some point and creating a Science Machine. I do this as soon as I have enough items to create the following.

· *Football Helmet – 1 pigskin & 1 Rope (This is if I so happen to get a pig skin before I build my 1st machine)

Don’t worry about this Machine you will build another when you start your base camp. KEEP MOVING!

Now after 12 logs for those items (machine and suite) this leaves you with 2 logs for a Fire Pit when you start your base.

Your choice on collecting 12 or 14+ logs just because of inventory reasons. You could also wait till you decide on where your base is going to grab the extra 2 logs for your fire pit.

Your Inventory:

You’re bound to want to keep extra items as you go that might fill up your inventory. This is why I choose to build a ‘throw away’ Science Machine so I can hold more with my backpack. It’s good to collect as much as possible right away.

Tip:

If you want to mark a spot on your map you want to revisit for any reason, make and drop a trap this way it is marked on your map somehow. Dropped some inventory to make room and want to pick it up later? Drop a trap. Found a dead man with loot for the taking? Drop a trap. Found a mass of Fire Flies you could collect later? Drop a trap. You’ll just have to keep in mind what trap is dropped where and for what. Shouldn't be too hard as this isn't going to happen too much. This reason + early craftables is why I collect so much grass early.

Beefalo Spotting:

Not all Savanna Biomes have Beefalo. If I see them on my journey I will run inwards a way that identifies itself on my MAP. Remember you’re perimeter walking so anything revealed deeper into the map will give good indication for you later on. You can use this method for other situations as well if you’d like. Refer to the tip above, but use this method instead if desired.

Chess Biome:

I like to hang in this area when I come across it until I can get 1 GEAR. There are certain items I want right away when starting my base and I want an ICE BOX pronto! Bait yourself to the Clockwork Rook and try and get him to do the work for you OR log suite up with spear in hand and take out a Clockwork Knight to more quickly and efficiently get what you need and get on with yourself. He takes 9 hits with the spear and is very easy to kite and kill.

Also if I have carried “The Things” along with me I will just drop them near this location and take care of it later.

Rocky Biome:

You want at least 10 Gold, 40 rocks before you start your base. Build 2 pick axes if needed to achieve this. Ditch the pick axe if space is needed after you get all of this as well. Remember to stay on your edges as you’ll find plenty of rocks to pick at. I usually only pick the gold boulders as I go.

Your Nomad Days Are OVER...kind of.

OK That’s basically it for important info within this time frame. You've outlined the whole map and now you can start your plan for the long haul.

Base Camp: Home Sweet Home

Yea, not really. But we’re moving on up! Take your time and examine your map. It’s important to decide where to live. What’s close by? What’s worth taking a trip for?

Most times somewhere centrally located is the best. You want Beefalo fairly close (half day travel at tops). Manure is very important to you for farming and sustaining a place where you won’t starve. Another benefit of this are Rabbit holes with the Beefalo. Rocks are important as well, they craft many items. Touchstones could possibly play a role (it shouldn’t be a major role) Regardless, this is on you to make your best decision where to camp. Choose Wisely.

Once I've found my area of choice I will place my fire pit where desired. Nighttime or not. Build my new Science Machine within reasonable distance to a well-lit fire. I should have enough items to craft an Alchemy Engine as well. Now I’ll build my ICE BOX, Crock Pot, and Chest and place them within reasonable distance of my fire pit. I’ll build any Chests I can to store items I don’t want to carry with me anymore.

Note*It takes time, trial and error, experience to efficiently build your base into something of magnitude. If you are a beginner don’t worry about extravagant bases until you become more experienced. You’ll know when that time comes. One word – Pitchfork. I've provided a diagram picture of my base by the start of 2nd Winter later on in this.

Basics of a BASE started. Now what?

You got a base now but that doesn't mean we’re settling down. Besides what we have going for us now, a few Drying Racks and farms would be ideal as well as soon as you can.

Winter Preparation: Days 8-21+

We want more items for winter prep. Winter starts Day 21 and lasts 16 Days.

We need Clothing!

Resources we need a lot of are Grass, Grass, and Grass, did I mention Grass? Rocks, Manure, Silk.

Savanna I believe is the most important to surviving your first winter. Grass for multitude of items such as Traps, Improved Farms, and Beefalo for manure (farms) and shaving fur (winter hat). Crack down those boulders out there for rocks as well.

It’d be nice to have some Improved Farms going (you can go basic but I never go basic)

This takes a lot of resources which is the problem. Starting with 3 would be ideal. Grow 3 items to toss in a crock pot with 1 meat item for Meatballs. Easy start for farming and food.

Koalafant:

Track him down first chance you get after your base is set. He is too important not to pursue. See his tracks and sniff him out! 8 meat for some drying racks/crock pot/ icebox storage. His trunk to create a Breezy Vest. Having this vest to start winter I feel is important.

Base Goal before Winter Breakdown:

Fire Pit

Science Machine

Alchemy Machine

Crock Pot (at least 1 preferably more)

Ice Box (at least 1 preferably 2)

Improved Farm (at least 3)

Drying Rack (at least 2-3 I strive for more)

Breezy Vest

Winter Hat

Heat Stone

Football Helmet

CHESTER!

Some food in IceBox

Possibly Bird Cage and 1 Bee Box

1st Winter:

I collect rabbits by trap near base for food.

While I’m out and about I keep an eye for a Winter Koalefant tracks. Winter Vest is the ideal choice of winter protection to survive the cold at dusk.

Still collecting basic resources

Crafting items by fire at night (It’s good to be able to craft on the road without your machine)

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Swapping torches at night is kinda resource-heavy. I've never had any time-wasting issues just plopping down a fire pit the first week or so until I find my Graceland on the map.

Just toss those first few near resources that you want to stock up on initially. A few trees, some grass, twigs, etc.

Plus I play almost exclusively as Wigfrid, who can only eat meat, so it's pretty imperative to cook it before eating.

By the second winter you'll want flingomatics, preferably overwatching your growable crops (grass and twigs won't wither when under their supervision). Honestly, you're going to want those up before the first summer hits. Making them is not as tedious as it might seem. Just make sure you've gathered up all the surface gears early.

So as someone who plays as Wig mostly, I avoid farms and berry bushes outright and rely entirely on meat exchanges, honey, and recycling spoiling food into eggs for bacon & eggs.

I shoot for 20 drying racks so I can deal in full stacks.

I build my base near what is eventually 10 pig houses so that when I want to refill my plate I save up 40 monster jerky, give all 10 pigs 3 pieces, lure them out to some field and summarily execute them as I feed them all that 4th piece of jerky. Doing it this way helps the most as one you initiate combat all your allied pigs join in. You only have to dodge a single swipe on the last enemy if you go about it right.

Make stacks of bacon & eggs for summer, and honey ham for winter and you'll never need anything else.

You were right to bring up that pitchfork, too, if for no other reason than this: Fuel. chunks of turf are decent fuel and in very decent supply. Just save any cobblestones or rocky turf you might come across. Rocky turf can be used to craft cobblestones later down the road and you can make clever lureplant traps with it (eye bulbs don't spawn on rocks).

Just remember for you non-Wigfrid playing scum, that too many bushes and farms will be a supreme hassle. Time consuming and space consuming. Aim small, 2... MAYBE 3 improved farms go a long way. 10 berry bushes is probably more than enough, but who doesn't like nice round numbers? Plus that's more gobbler chances. You actually don't want 20, because then gobblers will have way too many easy cutoff routes to stealing your berries. A nice little 3-4-3 bundle within flingomatic range is ideal.

20-30 grass tufts will provide you will nice multiples. 60 grass = 20 rope and down the road making 20 rope just to craft things like 20 tooth traps will be something you'll probably be interested in. Twigs, just make sure you have at least 20 around. It might seem like you don't use them often but sometimes you'll make large investments in it. Good to have at least 40 in your accumulated inventory hanging around at all times. I actually plant those all down in the caves to avoid losing them to spontaneous fires which means I don't have to waste precious flingomatic range area. Just have a full stack going into summer to avoid needing them when they're in their withered state. But since berry bushes and grass wither just from harvesting, ALWAYS have them being covered.

Unless you have a insulated pack or don't mind letting food spoil in your inventory while cooking, it also helps to have your crock pots close enough to a single ice box where you don't have to constantly go back and forth.

As far as what to leave near touch stones? I wouldn't mentally invest too much in that. Maybe leave a torch for winter so you can burn a path back, but building an ice box and leaving yourself an ice cube or something like that is probably overkill. What I mean to say is you're gonna die. Being a beginner in the game means you're going to be starting from scratch quite a bit. even if you know how to build the perfect base you still need a ton of muscle memory learning enemy patterns and how to deal with each obstacle individually. So once you've figured out how to do those things, there's no reason you shouldn't also by this time have ample means to be keeping a steady supply of meat effigies running. So yeah, leave that torch there, you might make it back in a winter. Probably not a bad place to drop off a winter hat or cat cap, or an umbrella for summer. But spend more time focusing on learning the ropes. By your 20th game you'll be the master of your realm.

You will know you're good at this game when you're committing suicide just to harvest 2 bone fragments because you want to make another Eyebrella.

Edit- one last thing about the initial exploration phase: Don't be afraid to plop down a science machine when you have enough to make one. get that backpack up first and foremost. You can simply craft a hammer next, smash it to get half the resources back, and you're still up 5 inventory slots. Even easier if you're playing Wickerbottom since she already knows all the science machine recipes.

Edit 2- Beefalo. Kill a few early on if you can manage it. 8 wool and 1 horn = a beefalo hat, which is the best head insulation in the game. Just don't make them go extinct if you didn't luck out and there's only a few in your world.

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Truth be told, I lag a bit when playing Don't Starve. I seem not to be prioritizing my to-do list, I just run around and gather stuff.. at the moment I am at day 17, sat up a base (science & alchemy machines) in savanna biome, have around 80 twigs & grass planted across the biome safe from lightning if it occurred, gathering rabbits from holes only when needed, I feed myself whenever my hunger drops to 35 more or less until it gets up to 75 and nothing more.

I should have gathered enough stone, charcoal and manure by now and built a consistent farms, drying racks and crock pots to prepare for winter, but.. I haven't.

I only got 4 days till winter arrives to get those ready but I am not sure what to prioritize first, drying racks? crock pots? advanced farms?

I've invested only 40 hours in the game so I am pretty much a newborn, confused and not sure what to do and what not to do.

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Truth be told, I lag a bit when playing Don't Starve. I seem not to be prioritizing my to-do list, I just run around and gather stuff.. at the moment I am at day 17, sat up a base (science & alchemy machines) in savanna biome, have around 80 twigs & grass planted across the biome safe from lightning if it occurred, gathering rabbits from holes only when needed, I feed myself whenever my hunger drops to 35 more or less until it gets up to 75 and nothing more.

I should have gathered enough stone, charcoal and manure by now and built a consistent farms, drying racks and crock pots to prepare for winter, but.. I haven't.

I only got 4 days till winter arrives to get those ready but I am not sure what to prioritize first, drying racks? crock pots? advanced farms?

I've invested only 40 hours in the game so I am pretty much a newborn, confused and not sure what to do and what not to do.

In 4 days you can do this no problem. Find a nearby forest and just burn it to the ground, grab a small stack of charcoal. Then just make your way to the nearest rocks and go ape. If you can extract 40 in a single afternoon you won't need to go burning trees down for a long time (hint: killing a Krampus yields 2 charcoal so if you use my method stated above you'll have a secondary source of it).

To build all your needs you'll need more than a single stack of both grass and rocks, so don't be afraid to dump off some goods to make space for those.

Don't worry about farms during winter... they don't grow crops. Having a bird cage up that can provide you with eggs early is a better source of filler that isn't limited by seasons. Which drives me to another point: Make sure that at the very least, before your 1st summer you have gathered at least 8 reeds. You'll need 2 papyrus to craft that bird cage. Which means you'll also need to have gathered 4 silk to craft the bird trap to capture the bird you need to put inside it. While you're at gathering silk, make sure to have at least 2 more than that to craft a bug net to gather fireflies early to make a mining hat. Down the road you'll realize that you don't need fire at night during any season other than winter.

You will only ever NEED a single crock pot, but you'll NEED a lot of drying racks, but you might want to prioritize the crock pot first since fire-cooked recipes are garbage. One stack of 20 charcoal is enough for a crock pot and 7 drying racks, but the 7 drying racks will cost 21 rope. 21 rope is 63 grass. So, you can see, the math starts dragging heavily on certain resources. My end result will always be 20 racks, so that's 60 rope or 180 grass.

I guess what I mean to convey is that don't rest on any resources, always have them topped off and a plan for how to acquire more down the road when you go on a crafting spree. If you gathered 40 rocks while exploring but set up miles from any future mining sites you might regret it. If you are a masochist that wants to play on a large world, you will regret it to the grave.

By the way, all my advice assumes that you're using RoG. So if you don't have it disregard everything I said about Glommer statues and ice flingomatics.

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Perhaps too specific. I've noticed that my friends whom are newer to Don't Starve tend to strictly follow guides written by other players. They also have a tendency to die early. Better to teach fundamentals and encourage approaching each situation critically.

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Truth be told, I lag a bit when playing Don't Starve. I seem not to be prioritizing my to-do list, I just run around and gather stuff.. at the moment I am at day 17, sat up a base (science & alchemy machines) in savanna biome, have around 80 twigs & grass planted across the biome safe from lightning if it occurred, gathering rabbits from holes only when needed, I feed myself whenever my hunger drops to 35 more or less until it gets up to 75 and nothing more.

I should have gathered enough stone, charcoal and manure by now and built a consistent farms, drying racks and crock pots to prepare for winter, but.. I haven't.

I only got 4 days till winter arrives to get those ready but I am not sure what to prioritize first, drying racks? crock pots? advanced farms?

I've invested only 40 hours in the game so I am pretty much a newborn, confused and not sure what to do and what not to do.

Drying racks. Jerky is my favourite resource in the game. It does a decent amount of Health, Hunger, and Sanity! I only gather berry bushes now so that I have a filler for my crockpots.

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Overall, I also found the "nomadic" approach almost by accident seeing some other person attempt it. It made me learn a lot of things myself that I didn't see them do. While I did these things many months before this, we both parallelly came with thing things like: Circling out to quickly accruing resources, finding and exploring the perimeters, making multiple torches to explore at night, etc. Many of these things are universal to the nomadic approach.

Other things I may "customize" more. For instance, I might pre-make a campfire in case I get in trouble so I have something to fight off the Night should my resources go low. It also helps if in those early days I am low on food to make a campfire to cook my berries to take care of more hunger or if low on sanity, to cook some green/blue mushrooms found to keep my sanity up. After several days, even a Garland won't help enough if you haven't make a base/prototyped items. If you take it a little bit early on and do the logs up to the max suggestion, you have no problem if you wanted to stop, make a campfire, cook and eat a few items, then run off. You don't have to do this all the time, but a now and then approach those first 10-11 days can help.

Secondly, assuming initial food is not a problem (and see my campfire suggestion above if it is a bit tight,) I tend to leave some carrots planted and save them for winter. (Especially that 1st one, where newbies may need emergency supplies. ) Again, considering the average number, not a big thing.

Thirdly, if you're making a "throwaway" science machine, then take the time to make a hammer, and smash it when done. If space is a premium, you can consider dropping it and making it again later.

But I find it's very usefuL always make sure i have resources to make 5 ropes for these: The spear, the log suit (and a suite is a room; you may want to edit your OP,) and the hammer.

Once I make these (as well as a backpack and a SHOVEL, which is HUGE for quickly gathering up resources, but skip the grass and twig tufts until a bit later since they only accrue to 10, while I can get logs easily and hammer any walls if I find things with said Hammer,) I hammer the temp Science Machine and reacquire my resources. This works VERY well if I find only one gold yet have rocks to make that SM. I can then either keep the gold, or can re-build the SM, yet not place it until later when I need it, especially if I want to instantly build and hold an Alchemy Engine (yes, you can build but not place structures until later if you want new players,) then re-destroy the SM. Also (and again,) the building Prototypes will help restore Sanity before the character puts down a permanent base. This will offset any sanity loss from combat they feel they must do (I avoid it until I have a base unless I feel it's critically necessary like for Silk needed ASAP)

Signs also can be used as markers instead of traps, but if you have no temp SM yet, you can use traps as markers (which should be retrieved if you can since they cost 6 grass and 2 twigs apiece)

Finally, this includes a few things I'd just change the number and order to do things.

Like 4 Improved farms for a potential little extra food as well as symmetry.

Having 2 Crock Pots become of the cooking food takes a long time to cook, and if you're in an emergency situation, you can make quick food (eg meatballs, especially if Wigfrid, and more on her later,) while waiting for those Honey hams and Turkey Diners to finish.

I'd consider adding 1-2 Bee Boxes in that first Season before winter (even if you won't get it ready in time) just to build up honey quicker (and if you are lucky enough to get a base up by day 11 and the boxes up 2-3 days later, you actually can have a large chunk of Honey Ham to offset your foods in winter.) As long as you have (around) 6 flowers planted nearby per bee box (and yes, make plans against fire to keep them there,) you have an unlimited resource (until winter) of food that can heal you, can be used for healing and can be used as a "cheap" filler in most recipes (beware using honey, corn and sticks though or you get the novelty item powder cake.) Even in winter, if you get enough Honey stored-which lasts a very long time-you can continue manufacturing crock pot items with it and your Jerky meats or cooked fish. As a matter of fact, when i combine this with the crop-gathering methods of Improved farms, I like having 2 "Cold boxes:" One stores the fruits and veggies (and other produce,) and one stores the Meats and cooked Crock Pot items. Honey and other items (EG petals, ice, etc,) also can fit in the boxes without me worrying about space. Since killing one Clockwork produces 2 gears aways (in a non fire-consumes-upon-death way of course) it's very simple once you are armored up and find a Chess biome. if you don't, digging graveyards for a potential gear is another way to get your box, but plan accordingly as if you'll only find one gear until your first season (or at least one Summer/Winter) is over.

Also, while your guide is awesome for those who are playing the Original DS, it does not address those who have the Reign of Giants

add-on, buying it all together as a new player.

For instance, can you tell me using this style how you'd play as Wigfrid (traps are vital to place for Jackalopes ASAP; when you build the science machine, you build a fire pit, crock pot, and 2 drying racks as a temporary operating base and occasionally go back to make crock pot food/jerky until you settle on a permanent base of which you can then keep the forward operating base for this like Winter exploration/distracting the Deerclops from your real base or destroy it with a hammer for resource reclaiming)

or Webber (spider meat is a basic food for you safe to eat; build near spider mounds and only destroy them when they are 3 Bumps to recycle them from becoming spider queens; pigs are considered enemies to you, but if building pig houses, remember to plan as if they are like spider mounds for other characters and not place too closely to you or other resources they could consume) instead of the other characters?

How would you suggest to new players how to handle rains and Wetness/Summer (build a parasol ASAP; aim for an Umbrella and hammer every skeleton and bone with that hammer I told you is important early; craft the Fling-o-matic and multiple Thermal Stones kept in the Ice Box starting early and late spring respectively, this is why you need 2 Ice Boxes; learn how to make floral shitrs, Siesta lean-to's and ice cream to start when Summer hits; have walls not just for Hounds, but for Fireflies to protect your bunable resources until you can attack/distract them. )

Oh, and, to

any tips for the wolves? do they always come for you no matter what?

I've had two games in a row end prematurely (one in the middle of winter due to wolves, the other a bit before)

Even with log suit and a spear they swam in 3-4 and seem to come during rain/at night.

My last world had barely any pigs in it and my base was only near 1 or 2, so I couldn't kite there.

Finally, character suggestion? I know it's not a huge deal, but I'm trying to find a good one that I like to get a long running world.

Yes, Hounds are a permanent thread starting on day 7-10 (with two) and each wave returning every 3-12 days after that in greater number until they show every 3-7 days in the 7-10 number by day 100+.

And for TheLastGrunt and all new players:

Until you get the hang of fundamentals (as Ringmaster suggests) practice playing only as Wilson. His extra insulation really helps in Winter (and if playing Reign of Giants, shave it in Summer or you'll overheat faster,) as well as the Beard hair that you can build Meat Effigies (to resurrect you should you die) with. other characters literally have to lose their sanity and kill specific creatures just for a percentage chance of finding beard hair. It's much easier as Wilson to start. if you have Reign of Giants Add-On, it may seem easier to play with Wigfrid with her extra damage and restoring health/sanity, but since she only can eat meat, that means you have to rush to get crock pots/drying racks/use a lot more resources to trap jackalopes/fight a lot more often risking death for new players and combat just to not starve. When you understand how combat (and when to kite vs tank) works better with regular characters, then you can try her.

Unlocking Webber requires you attacking spiders until finding and burying something very special, so it's not a normal unlock. Even if you accomplish it, he's considered a monster. While you can ally spiders by feeding them or even build spider dens (with a shavable silk beard,) things you'd normally consider "allies" -like Pigs and Bunnymen-will attack you on sight.

It's a totally different turned-on-your-head playing style and it helps when you understand fundamentals first.

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@Decelexevi good write up. I should have clarified this is my guide for VANILLA. I'm clueless to RoG right now with only a few hours in. (I don't see options for editing a post)

@hotmatrixx thanks for the tip, never thought of using signs. Though I'd have to carry a hammer with me when going back. Not a huge problem but I end up grabbing the trap and bringing it back to base where I will find a new use for it. It's never a wasted resource.

@Ogrecakes I can't deny your point there. Though that's subjective as some may just want that help. I didn't watch any videos or read anything about this game until about 20+ hours into it. Watching some videos opened my eyes on things I should have been doing.

I had a friend who gave up on the game after only a few hours of play which is what inspired this post. He went from 7-20 days survival to now being a 2-3 winter survivor and progressing. To each their own but it helped someone.

@TheTruthSeeker I agree with a lot of what you said. There's some minor details in that post that could be tweaked but this is merely a basic guide to go by. Though there's a lot of info in there it's still just basic tips. I should have clarified this is for Vanilla. I mentioned I mainly play PS4 so I guess I didn't really clarify this doesn't apply to RoG. I've only played about 3 hours of RoG so far because I'm holding off for the console edition.

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And remember kids: even if you killed Deerclops and took care of the MacTusk and winter ended, no matter how walking cane fast you think you are, do not try and grab stuff on the ground if unarmored and surrounded by Tallbirds in the corner of the maze in "The Game is Afoot"

*bangs head against wall for being so stupid*

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Perhaps when I clone myself or somehow create children of my own in the Don't Starve World, they'll be able to take the rotten powdercakes out. Haha. I'll be 77 years old - probably long dead, and I'll still be giving my clones/children chores to do! I am a coot.

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Perhaps when I clone myself or somehow create children of my own in the Don't Starve World, they'll be able to take the rotten powdercakes out. Haha. I'll be 77 years old - probably long dead, and I'll still be giving my clones/children chores to do! I am a coot.

I always wondered why it wasn't usable as a fuel...but then again do I want to breathe anywhere that combustion....